2. Choose the best answer.
Astronauts in a spacecraft in orbit "float" because.
3. If you comb your hair and the comb becomes positively
charged then your hair becomes electrically
4. The magnetic north pole of the Earth is nearest
5. What type of eclipse was observable over Tasmania on 16th
July 2000?
6. An isotropic radiator in free space is one that emits
radiation uniformly in all directions. Calculate the ratio of the intensity
(radiation per unit area) of the radiation at distance d with respect to
distance 2d from the centre of the source.
7. An 80 kg man and a 40 kg boy are standing stationary on a frictionless surface. The man pushes the boy away from him. What is the ratio of momentum of the man to the boy?
9. What was NASA's given reason for the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter to enter orbit around Mars in 1999?
10. An infrared transmitter and detector, each of area A and distance D apart, are placed inside a chimney to measure the mass of smoke particles leaving the chimney each day. The detector works on the principle that less infrared radiation reaches the detector if the smoke contains more particles.
In its current form the system is incapable of measuring small enough
daily masses of smoke particles to enable the factory owners to demonstrate
compliance with new environmental legislation.
A scientist has been asked to suggest how the system can be modified
so that it can detect sufficiently small masses of smoke particles leaving
the chimney. Which of the following provides the best option to allow the
measurement of smaller daily mass totals of smoke particles.
2. Which has greater kinetic energy, a car travelling at
30km/h or a car of half of the mass travelling at 60km/h?
3. Which requires the most amount of work on the brakes of
a car?
4. A car travels in a circle with constant speed. The net
force on the car is
5. Which is the best explanation why hydro electric power
stations are built at sites where water can undergo large changes in height.
7. What theory did the discovery of the 3K microwave background radiation support?
8. Put the following atmospheric phenomena in order of increasing altitude: noctilucent (=mesospheric) clouds, the aurora, cumulus clouds, the peak of the ozone layer.
9. The activity of a radio isotope of thorium decreased to one-sixteenth of its initial value in 100 hours. What is its half-life (in hours)?
10. A light ray travelling through air hits a hemi-spherical glass prism perpendicular to the surface of the glass, as per the attached diagram. Point 'O' indicates the centre of the flat surface of the glass hemi-sphere. Which drawn ray [a, b, c or d] best depicts the passage of the ray.
2. If a quantity of air is warmed, its volume increases.
If a quantity of air expands without exchanging heat, it
3. In July 2000 Physicists experimentally found a particle
that completes our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of
the Universe. The particle was a
4. The Lunar Olympics will be conducted in a specially constructed
stadium on the Moon. The stadium will be filled with air pressurised to
one atmosphere. The winner of the gold medal for weight lifting previously
lifted a personal best of 150 kg on Earth. If the weight lifter is in the
same peak physical condition as when he lifted on Earth, what would most
likely be the maximum mass he could lift on the Moon.
5. When seen from an aeroplane a rainbow sometimes forms
a complete circle. When this happens the plane’s shadow is
6. The time interval for one repetition of the cycle in a
simple harmonic motion is called the
8. The volume of a piece of wood is 80 cm3 and its mass is 20 g. What is the average density of the wood?
This information applies to the next two questions. The final hole of Wonderland Mini Golf requires a player to putt the ball up a frictionless pipe that ends directly above the hole. To get a free game requires a hole-in-one.
9. To get a hole-in-one the velocity Vf of the ball
must be
(a) 2ms-1
(b) greater than the initial velocity Vi
(c) near zero
(d) (mVi2)/r
10. What is the initial velocity Vi of the ball required to obtain
a hole in one?
(assume g=10ms-2)
2. Name two of the more significant greenhouse gases which
absorb long-wave radiation in the earth's atmosphere?
3. Which of the following nuclei has the greatest mass?
4. If you push an object twice as far while applying the
same force you do
5. What is the cause of atmospheric halos, such as appeared
in Tasmania on 18th August 2000?
6. A sidereal day is the mean time taken for a distant celestial object to return to the same location in the sky. Is a sidereal day shorter, longer or equivalent to a mean solar day (the average time taken for the sun to cross the same longitude line)?
7. Draw how all four resistors may be connected such that the total resistance amounts to 15 ohms.
8. Draw how all four resistors may be connected such that the total resistance amounts to 60 ohms.
9. Draw how all four resistors may be connected such that the total resistance amounts to 24 ohms.
10. A light ray enters a "black box" at position A and emerges at position B. Draw the internal optical structure of the box. (No optical fibres allowed)
2. An object is placed exactly halfway between the earth
and moon. The object will accelerate toward the:
3. Which force binds atoms together to form molecules
4. The brakes fail on a tourist's car and it leaves the road
travelling horizontally at 20 ms-1 plunging into the Grand Canyon
which is 500 metres deep at this point. Neglecting air resistance and assuming
g=10 ms-2, how far does the car land from the base of the cliff?
5. Above which city is the aurora most prevalent: Hobart, Launceston or Melbourne?
6. Which best describes the nuclear reaction taking place in the sun?
The following information applies to the next two questions. At time equal to 0 tu (time units) a motorist speeding at 146.25 km/h passes a police car. The police decide to pursue and accelerates after the speeding motorist reaching a maximum speed of 180 km/h. The attached graph indicates the speed vs time progress of these cars.
9. At what time does the police car stop accelerating?
10. At what time does the police car catch up with the speeding motorist?
2. Which of the following has the longer wavelength?
3. Suppose you are standing on a weighing scale and all of
a sudden the atmosphere vanished. Your weight as read on the scale would:
4. If you drop a stone into a hole drilled all the way to
the other side of the Earth the stone will. (neglect air resistance)
5. The size of an atom compared with the wavelength of visible
light is
6. You can estimate your distance from a lightning bolt by
counting the seconds between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder and
then dividing by 3 to obtain the distance in kilometres. Deduce the speed
of sound.
7. During days of fair weather, the Earth has an atmospheric electric field that points vertically down and which is due to charges on the surface of the Earth. What must be the sign of the excess charge on the Earth?
8. A target shooter aims at the centre of a target, which is at the same height as the gun barrel and is 250m away. If the bullet travels at 500ms-1, calculate the distance by which he misses the centre of the target. (neglect air resistance and use g=10ms-2)
9. Which one of the following is not an accepted name for an element with an atomic number greater than 100?
